Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana — Hotel in Higüey

I just spent 7 nights at the Hyatt Ziva cap cana with my husband and my 2 kids. My children are ages 2 and 4. It really is very kid friendly. ||The rooms are very nice. We stayed in a suite with 2 rooms. The first room had a nice full bathroom, a table that seats 6, a mini fridge, a large bench with a few drawers, a small desk with a phone and a decent sized pull-out couch that fit my kids comfortably. I slept in it for a few hours with my little guy, it’s a very hard mattress but bearable. Both rooms had a nice sized TV. The other room had a big chaise, a king sized bed and a big bathroom with a stand-alone tub, a large shower, a double sink vanity and a water closet. The king sized bed was comfortable for me, but my husband didn't love it. The pillows were perfect for me. Half were thin and half were thick. The main bedroom had another long bench with drawers and one of the night stands had drawers too. Both rooms had access to the balcony which had a big comfy chair, a table for 4 and a hot tub.||The staff and servers were all very pleasant. Our butler was Christopher, he was super nice and my 4-year-old loved seeing him, but we didn’t utilize his services much. We didn’t do any romantic experiences or book anything special. We went to the buffet a lot which was not self-serve but had servers constantly available at all stations. The food was decent. Lots of fresh fruit but no berries anywhere at the resort which was a bummer for my 2 year old lol. The chilaquiles were amazing. The guy at that station was wonderful. Our server for breakfast at mercado was wonderful. I wish I remembered his name. He is always at the little spot that is up a few steps. He would help us with the stroller, get us everything we needed before we even knew we needed it. |Personally, as a limited diet person, I was not majorly enthused with the food at the resort. We have been to the Hyatt Zilara cancun, Hyatt Ziva Cancun, Hyatt Vivid in playa del carmen (before the name change) and the hyatt in Cabo. I preferred the food everywhere else. The vegan stuff at mercado was just ok. Most of the stuff had eggplant and tasted the same. There were a few bean dishes that were alright. I loved having salads every day at the buffet, or ordering a Caesar salad from prontoz or room service. We did experience a few missed items or mistakes with each restaurant. We went to chinola for breakfast twice, first time it was much better. The second time the eggs in the benedict were basically raw and there was no Hollandaise sauce. My big kid liked the pancakes and my husband enjoyed his food. The room service menu is very small. Its mostly burgers. My children and I don’t eat meat or chicken. They ate a lot of pizza and French fries which they don’t usually do at home but it made life easier. They have take out at prontoz which made life easier for us when the kids wanted to stay in the pool. My bigger kid ate a lot of Caesar salads. Two times at prontoz they did not put in my order and I waited an hour, when I went to find out what was going on I had to replace the order and then got meat on my nachos when I specified no meat. |We went to navigator twice for dinner and once for lunch. The fried fish is a whole fish with the head, so that wasn’t for me. The dinner was better. I got a lobster that was not on the menu which was small but good. |We went to noodle and thread once. The food there was very good. Highly recommend the beet salad at noodle and thread. The gnocchi was very good too. |We did hibachi one night. It was hibachi. Lol. To me that’s all the same. But the chef put on an interesting show for the kids. |The pool servers seem kind of annoyed and didn’t come around much. I don’t think many people tip them. My husband and I are sober so we only drank non alcoholic stuff but we still tip everyone. We give at least 3 bucks when we’d get two drinks. I always brought money to the pool bar. They were fast and friendly. My 2 year old was obsessed with virgin mudslides. If you ask him what his favorite pool is, he yells “SPIRITZ!” We spent most of the time in the pool that starts shallow and has gradual depth to around 4 feet or so. Sitting at the end of that pool by the beach is very nice bc everyday there is a fruit stand outside where they cut fresh fruit. I think that is open from 12-3. The member pool is nice too, we spent a day there. |The water park is awesome but my kids didn’t want to be there much. They didn’t want to get water in their eyes or get splashed by the bucket. As they get older, they’d appreciate that area more. My husband and I pushed for going there but they were adamant about being in the shallow pool or by SPIRITZ!! Lol. I loved doing the lazy river with my boys individually. They didn’t love it though. Toddler problems. My husband did a few bigger slides. I didn’t get the chance to try anything else. But the fact that they have a pretty big sized water park is a huge perk for families. |The beach had a lot of seaweed but that’s not the hotels fault. We live by a bay beach at home that also has had bad seaweed this year. |This hotel wants to keep your family occupied and entertained. The movies at night were great for my 4 year old. He loved getting comfy in a bean bag and having popcorn. Me or my husband had to chase my 2 year old around during that. We didn’t utilize the theatre restaurant much. But it was awesome to have during shows because we could get the kids fries and iced cream and they could sit while we watched some of the entertainment. My 4 year old loved doing karaoke on a big stage. The little acrobats was cute. We didn’t see much else of the shows. But they had activities for the kids during the day too. We did a slime time thing which was great. |The kids club is only open for families from 12-2pm. We don’t leave our children anywhere so we didn’t utilize it elsewise but lots of other couples would sign their kids in so they could have dinner without their little ones. I brought playdoh, slime, trucks, cars, coloring books and a few markers and my kids were content at meals. We also had a few meals with one of the kids asleep in the stroller. We had no problems getting everyone fed. I just didn’t love all the meals I had. |The coffee shop is incredible. Its well staffed so you don’t wait long. There is ice pops and ice cream during the day. The chocolate ice cream there is the best I ever had in my life. Lol. My kids were so excited to try different flavors. We probably won’t eat ice cream for a few months after this trip lol.|Overall, it was a great trip. Highly recommend for families with bigger kids. They have a teen club at night too. It looked like kids were playing video games and ping pong in there. |The layout of the resort is nice. We didn’t feel very far away from anything. There is comfortable seating everywhere so you can grab a refreshing drink and sit while you wait for your family or your table to be ready.|We will probably wait till our youngest is 5 before we go back to this resort. But I did see other people with little babies/toddlers having a great time. My kids did enjoy it thoroughly. My 4 year old has mentioned multiple times that he loved...

I will try to make this review as detailed as possible as I too thoroughly sifted through several reviews trying to understand why this is so highly rated and if it's worth it. I was also skeptical as just last year, I had visited the Finest in the DR and it was not good...but I booked the Hyatt anyway.||My wife, 21 month old daughter and I stayed here from 5/14 - 5/19. I had booked the Club One Bedroom Master Suite...AND IT WAS AMAZING! The two full baths were clutch! The separation allowed our daughter to stay safely in the crib in one room, while we slept in the bedroom. The outdoor Jacuzzi was great for when it was nap time. This room was well worth it and I highly recommend it. Definitely get the club.||Pools (10/10)|Since we had a toddler with us, I can only speak about the pools on the Ziva side. The Club pool was long and completely separate from the main pool. Service members there were extremely attentive from drinks to food requests to clean up to setting out towels. The hot tub was connected at the end of the pool and was large enough to fit 10-15 people comfortably. ||The main pool was huge and during our stay, was never crowded. The best part is the shallow part of the pool which is great for toddlers. We loved being able to progressively work with our toddler swimming on that part of the pool.||Food (8/10)|Overall, the food was great and that's mainly because of the buffet! The spread at the buffet was amazing! Salads, fish, meat, fried foods, veggies, sushi, vegan, you name it they had it and in great portions. So what if they are serving you, they give you PLENTY of food. And it was well seasoned! Best veggies I've ever had from a buffet. Rice and beans here are excellent!|Tempest (10/10) - The food is amazing whether you're doing the hibachi, Mongolian or entree's this place is a must visit. We ate here twice.|Noodle and Thread (6/10) - My meal was good but my wife didn't like hers...and it was her bday dinner! This gets a low rating because our service was terrible. Did I mention it was her birthday!? Matter of fact, I give this a 2/10|The Chinola (7/10) - We ate here for breakfast. Excellent service and ambiance, but the food was not my type as it caters to a real healthy, clean diet.|Shutter's Beachside (5/10) - This is on the Zilara side. It had a great ambiance and good menu, but the food and drinks were not up to par. Service was great|Prontoz (10/10) - this is the quick bite spot that you can order from poolside. The pizza was excellent and so were the fries.|ZiZi's (10/10) - this is the food truck by the water park. The wings are big and delicious!|There are several places we didn't get to eat at as we frequented the buffet.||Grounds|Grounds are very clean. It's not a large resort at all so it's very easy to get around and find where everything is.||Service|Outside of Noodle and Thread and one day at the buffet, the service we had was amazing. Everyone spoke to you and treated you well.||Entertainment|This is non-existent during the day, as I'm used to entertainment staff and events happening all the time at the main pool. At night it is different as there was always something going on. The best part is the outdoor movies for the kids. The set up large bean bags and cushions on the lawn for everyone to watch the movie on a huge projector. There's NA drinks and food as well. Our lil girl had a blast!||Beach|Huge beachfront with shallow, calm water was perfect for toddlers. While there is Sargassum, it's manageable and does not smell. The ocean area for the property is quite expansive too.||Water Park|While it's no Water Country USA, it's a whole lotta fun! They have a smaller kids section with slides, splash zone and other water works to keep your kid busy. The lazy river is fun and moves fast for a lazy river. For the bigger kids and adults the slides are great! We did one of them with our lil one. Watch out for the Kamikaze, that's only for the brave!||Overall|I see why this hotel is rated 4.9, it's great! We had a great time and minus a couple of mishaps with service, and my wife not picking the right food lol, it was a flawless trip. As Diamond members of Excellence Resorts, it was hard to go to something different, but outside for the entertainment and immaculate grounds at the Finest, this is WAAAAAYYYYYY better!||Shout Outs|Special shout outs to Keiber and Soraya at the Bosque Club Lounge. Phenomenal drinks, service and conversation. Santo from Playa. Juan at the Club Pool Bar and the other ladies working that area, especially the one that provided our daughter with oranges! O and shout out to our server...

I am writing this review on my 6th night here.

Overall I find this all inclusive better than Paradisus in the Dominican Republic and more enjoyable than all 3 Beaches resorts I’ve stayed.

It could definitely be improved.

We stayed in a club level one bedroom master suite. The room was nice, spacious and relatively well kept. The resort was maintained quite well. Housekeeping was decent however some days our room didn’t get cleaned until 4pm, and we were gone all day at the pool or beach. So at that point turn down service is about worthless.

The pools were nice, however the club pool would be out of chairs by 8am as everyone was saving them. The main pool had more availability so often we went over there if we didn’t get an early start. The water park was nice and enjoyable. The only downside was it was a bit removed from the resort if you wanted a drink or some food besides the one food truck.

The food was all over the place in terms of quality. Again, it’s an all inclusive, and we have done multiple resorts (Paradisus, Beaches, Ochos Rios, Negril, Turks, etc) so I don’t have super high expectations. It bested them, but it could easily be better.

I ordered room service one night. It took about 45 minutes which was fine, however outside of the chocolate cake, the food was inedible. The pizza was cold by the time we got it, and burned, lol. The Tequenos and Chicken Croquettes were trash.

We had access to the club restaurant (Chinola) for breakfast and lunch due to our room choice and Globalist status at Hyatt.

The breakfast was terrible. The menu was very limited, and we went twice and then stuck to the buffet. I ordered a Salmon bagel and it was literally both charred and soft with a weird texture. I think because they try to cook it on the grill rather than use an actual toaster.

The club restaurant for lunch was ok. I enjoyed one entree but another was terrible. The service was kind of slow, so it was easier to go to the buffet for about the same level or better of food. It’s an all inclusive, so I don’t have super high expectations, but it certainly wasn’t a good perk for club level.

My daughter liked Noodle and Thread because she’s a basic pasta kid. I had both the Ravioli; not very good, I’d rather have some frozen from Wegman’s. Then I had lasagna another night. I didn’t enjoy either. The charcuterie plate was decent and I enjoyed the appetizer of caprese, but that was it.

Tempest was decent in my opinion, I enjoyed some of the sushi rolls, and dishes, a couple were kind of meh, but overall I liked a majority of it. I’m sure the Beni Hanna style tables were about the same as every other all inclusive, dependable.

The Navigator grill was ok. My fish was cooked well, and tasted good However my appetizer (calamari) was under cooked, and my sides (salad and plantains) were both kind of ok at most.

My wife and I ventured over to the adult side one night for dinner at Waves. It was probably my favorite meal. The steak (skirt) was cooked perfectly medium rare, the sides were basic but tasty, and the chimichurri sauce was perfect.

For the most part, the lunch at the buffet was decent, better than the other resorts I’ve been to and Prontoz (quick lunch place) made decent cheese pizza for my daughter and a juicy burger.

My wife has Celiac’s and some of staff specifically (Christian and Sebastian) were amazing. They did their best to be sure my wife had a good experience with gluten free options.

The drinks were kind of all over the place in terms of quality. Some I just left at the bar after a quick taste. Blah! Some were good, like one specialty at Tempest. The most consistent drinks I had were at the club pool bar.

Lastly, the butler service was a worthless amenity. Ours didn’t really interact with us, reach out to us, or be proactive. We didn’t ask for anything and he didn’t volunteer anything. I would not call it a perk. They did take our feedback at the end and gave us some points to make up for it, but I would never...